1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices such as routers used in telecommunication networks, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for supporting applications sensitive to data loss on switched virtual circuits (SVCs).
2. Related Art
Virtual circuits are often set up to support data transfers on networks. A virtual circuit generally specifies a sequence of switches (in the network) using which a cell would be forwarded when sent from a source switch to a destination switch. Once set up, a first end system (e.g., a server system) may send data to another end system (e.g., a personal computer) using the virtual circuit to support various user applications.
A virtual circuit may be provided in the form of a permanent virtual circuit (PVC). A PVC is generally configured only once by a network administrator, and continues existence even if not in use. As a PVC need not be set up when required, the signaling overhead on a network may be minimized/prevented. However, valuable resources such as buffer space and bandwidth may need to be allocated to each of the PVCs irrespective of whether the PVC is in use or not. As a result, a switch/network may not scale to support many user application.
At least for such reason(s), it may be desirable to support user applications on switched virtual circuits (SVC). As is well known, a SVC is generally set up only when needed and released (terminated) after use. As the resources are not allocated to virtual circuits not in use, the available resources may be used efficiently. Accordingly, it is desirable that the data transfers for applications having different requirements be supported on SVCs.